The
formative years of Truvox are still unclear, suffice to say the
business was founded by Daniel Dan Prenn, whose first business in
Britain was assembling fountain pens. It appears he may have bought
a ready-made company, Truvox Ltd, formed in October 1928, and the
Universal Radio & Gramophone Co, of Kentish Town, from where
Truvox originally operated. His more famous Truvox Engineering Ltd
business was formed in June 1936.

Daniel
Dan Prenn was a Byelorussian-Jew who studied civil engineering in
Germany and became a world class, top-seeded, tennis player
representing Germany in the Davis Cup during the 1930s before being
exiled under the anti-semetic Nazi regime, fleeing to Britain in
1933. Later, as a prominent Jewish businessman, he nurtured other
small Jewish- refugee businesses and over the next 50 years created
one of Britain's largest military electronics and communications
'empires' through the merger of his Thermionic Products business
with Racal Electronics, while his family-run Truvox Floorcare
business became a leader in its own right. The full story is told
in "A Truvox Product".

Loudspeakers

Prenn
launched a series of 'Truvox' loudspeakers in the 1930s, of which
little is known (can anyone help?) ranging from miniature 3" to
auditorium units, as well re-entrant public address speakers. Then
in 1937, Truvox moved to the redundant Wembley Exhibition grounds
and during the war produced thousands of 'Tannoy' type artillery
loudspeaker-telephone sets for the forces.

Truvox's
major competitors were Tannoy, Goodmans, Celestion and Rola, but
when the Anglo-American Rola-Celestion business faced a serious
financial crisis in 1949, Prenn bought their British operations and
merged it with his Truvox speaker business. Truvox's few post-war
enclosed speakers included the 'Model 55' extension speaker
intended for radios or office dictaphones; it incorporated a volume
output control. While the group's domestic hi-fi speakers were now
dominated by 'Celestion' models, such as the famous 'Ditton', their
public address speakers were generally branded 'Truvox', but in
1964 Truvox launched their new TS100 and TS200 enclosed speakers to
complement their Series 100 and 200 tape-recorders and tuner-amp
range using Celestion cones but, after Celestion left the group in
1969, a new LS300 briefly appeared with KEF cones. Either way,
their speakers maintained Truvox's high fidelity
credentials.

BCC

Just
after the war, Prenn bought the fledgling British Communications
Corporation and rapidly expanded their new walkie-talkie operations
into a major Army and Police mobile radio-telephone and lifeboat
communications business. They expanded into airfield voice-loggers
in 1956, and poached Konrad Short from Truvox to lead its
development, but Konrad soon left to form Record Devices Ltd. With
Thermionic Products (and their parent Pena Group) now in financial
trouble, Prenn bought Thermionic Products to which he transferred
BCC's airfield voice logging business to allow BCC to concentrate
on military back-pack communications. (The proposed 'Clansman'
military back-pack contract led to their merger in 1969 with Racal
Electronics).In
taking over Thermionic Products, Prenn passed the business to
hisControls
& Communications Ltd (the former Radio & Television Trust
with its famous 'Philco' and 'Airmec' interests, of which Prenn had
gained control).

Floor
care

During
the war, Truvox had been developing plastic extrusion technology
and it appears very briefly offered a gramophone pick-up in 1947.
They also briefly produced simple license-built Bakelite bodied
cameras and electrical appliances between 1950 and around 1955 but
more importantly had taken over production of a German floor
cleaner machine. How this came about is still unclear, but Prenn's
Truvox Floorcraft business became a significant part of his empire
and remained in the family's hand when it split from the
audio/electronics side in 1969. Truvox International floor care
survives today as a world leading floor-cleaner and maintenance
manufacturer, albeit now part of an American group.

Tape-recorders

Immediate
post war patents show that Truvox were taking an interest in the
Recordon type magnetic oxide disc recorder but the break-through
came in when 1951 when Truvox developed a 7" domestic tape deck
intended for cabinet-makers to install into radio-grams. Much work
on this, including heads, was by Konrad Short. Uniquely, it used a
3/8" furniture grade plywood deck, faced with a Formica laminate
and conductive aluminium film to which was bolted a cast-alloy
head-block and flywheel/motor cradle. Switchgear, with electrical
braking, was in a separate block. As with the later Brenell,
capstan sleeves determined tape speeds but unlike many British and
American decks, Truvox used the German right-to-left, upper track
format.

Launched
in late 1952, and marketed through Rola--Celestion, the tape deck
underwent several minor improvements to soon become a major force
in DIY tape-recorders; they soon offered an impressive range of
accessories, including their famous 'Radio-Jack' plug-in MW/LW
crystal radio receiver. They launched their first tape-deck
amplifier in 1954 from their new factory at Neasden, and then
adopted the British/US tracking format (but still right to left
transport) launching in 1956 the more compact Mk.III TR7/U deck,
with its gold livery, reducing the width by a couple of inches. The
Mk.III proved very popular with other tape-recorder companies and
High Street Hi-Fi dealers for the DIY enthusiasts, and survived
until 1957 when it was superseded by the new Mk.IV deck.

R1

Truvox's
first complete tape-recorder, the R1, used what became known as the
MK.IV deck. Launched in Spring 1956, this improved Mk.III based
deck had new, stylish cast-alloy head-covers and was also offered
for DIY or original equipment fitting, complete with the new Truvox
'K' Type amplifier, in a range of specifications. The R1's deck and
amp were mounted within a cradle which slid into the plywood
cabinet. An improved R2 followed and was joined by their first
'Twinset' stereo model, using their own heads and a matching R2
case for the second channel amp and speaker.

R6

In
1959, a more modern looking R6 arrived using a modified deck
(christened the MK.VI - there was no Mk.V), now with its keyboard
controls on the left hand side and the standard left to right
transport, upper track format. It had a striking, slanted front
speaker grille and remained on sale alongside their entirely new R7
auto-reverse and then briefly with the greatly improved, cast-alloy
deck Series 80.

Auto-reverse

The
R7 auto-reverse was launched in September 1959. Built to demanding
hi-fi standards, it was completely different to their previous
models, using a single, pole-switching reversible capstan motor
with pairs of heads ranged either side. Its 10watt amplifier and
electronics gave superb reproduction, but while aimed at the
discerning audiophile, and pitted against the Simon SP4, the Truvox
R7 was over-priced and consequently few were sold; it was
eventually withdrawn in 1964 and is now incredibly
rare.

Lo-fi

Meanwhile
in 1958, Prenn had come to the aid of a fellow businessman to
market a pair of end-of-the-line Italian made 'Incis' models, the
4" Melody and 5" Harmony - both were pretty mundane, uninspiring
and soon forgotten: thankfully they did not carry the Truvox name.
But in 1960 Truvox launched a new Series 60 budget model using the
same Incis deck as the Elizabethan LZ27. It survived into 1962 and
was equally unimpressive. Unfortunately, Truvox then returned to
the budget market in 1965 with the new Magnavox 363 deck for their
Series 40. The deck was the result of the recently merged Magnavox
and Collaro companies, designed to offer great versatility and
potential for modification, but alas its build quality was lacking,
as too was Truvox's early transistor technology. No sooner were
these cured than Magnavox ceased production in 1967. As the 363
deck had also been chosen by several other companies, legend has it
that Truvox bought the remaining stocks and design rights to ensure
the Series 40's continued production.

Series
50

In
1967, Truvox's lease at Neasden expired and Prenn then merged
Truvox with Thermionic Products. moving production to Hythe, where
the new Series 50 was first produced, replacing the Series 40. The
promising mono Series 50 was built to hi-fi standards using a
single motor drive which, with its twin hi-fi speakers, Marriott
heads, DIN socketry and a central piano-key operation (much like
the hugely successful Thorn decks) was aimed at the discerning
domestic user. It came in a high-grade teak veneered cabinet (the
carrying handle in the photograph is not correct), or in
'ruggedised' form for education authorities as a less expensive
alternative to their popular Series 100. But despite its hi-fi
credentials, the Series 50 failed to make significant sales, hardly
denting market share held by the Thorn group and the new Japanese
competitors so when Racal and Thermionic Products merged in 1969,
the Series 50 was immediately dropped.

Language
laboratories

Truvox
was approached by The Rank Organisation in 1963 to produce for them
a suitable language laboratory student deck. While their Series 80
was fine as a 'master deck', the unique student deck need only be a
simple affair for merely listening to one track and recording
simultaneously on the other. Designed in association with Raymond
Hart Associates and Truvox's Ron Bishop, several went to the RAF in
Germany and British universities. Truvox duly won a contract to
supply EBEN of Germany with standard decks and soon gained a major
share as master decks for the British language laboratory
market.

Hi-Fi
- Series 80 and 90

So
successful had the Mk.III/Mk.VI Truvox deck become that in 1961 it
was re-engineered by Ron Bishop using a new cast-alloy deck to
allow head-on competition with their European competitors - Truvox
was a keen exporter. His new 2-speed Series 80 was offered in a
fawn/cream livery in either 1/2 or 1/4-track format as a transport
deck (D82 etc), plinth mounted recorder (PDxx), or complete
tape-recorder with output amplifier (Rxx). A highly praised stereo
model, the PD86/R86, came in March 1962. These were superseded by a
Mk.II range in October with the Papst hysteresis capstan motor and
3-speed operation but, confusingly, they kept the same model
numbers!

Unfortunately
the cast-alloy deck prevented its modification to 10-1/2" for
professional users. Never-the-less, the Series 80 proved to be a
most robust and reliable deck and soon endeared itself to education
authorities - indeed by the mid-1960s, Truvox were dominating that
market, especially as master decks for the demanding new language
laboratories.

The
valved Series 80 was greatly improved in 1963 and re-launched as
the Series 90, now with pcb technology, VU meters and a new
blue-grey livery. Their tape-recorders were now housed in an
attractive, robust plastic and plywood case with honeycombed
grille, later adopted by the Series 40. The stereo PD86 with its
twin VU meters further enhanced Truvox's reputation for quality,
even if the one piece head pressure pad left much to be desired.
This would be their last valve model.

Transistors
- Series 100 and 200

In
1963, Ron Bishop designed and launched Britain's first
transistorised hi-fi amplifier, just beating Leak. The TSA100 was
intended for the new, transistorised Series 100 tape-recorder. The
amplifier was very highly regarded for having retained the unique
'valve' sound. Housed in a quality teak veneered case, it was
joined by a matching FM100 FM tuner, capable of being upgraded to
stereo, and in 1965 the de-luxe teak veneered Series 100
'Belgravia' tape-recorder and the LS100 speaker. With the launch of
the Series 200 in 1969, the tuner and amplifier were upgraded to
the TSA200 and FM2001C stereo tuner, now in a new blue-grade
livery.

The
new Series 100 set even higher standards for robustness, ease of
use and sound quality than the Series 90. It now had a
professional, suspended Bogen head set-up, Papst capstan motor and
British EMD spool motors. Its audio capabilities matched those of
their domestic Brenell and Ferrograph competitors. Yes, it was a
very fine machine indeed but, unfortunately, the move to Hythe led
to a temporary loss of production which allowed Tandberg to
increase its position in Truvox's crucial education/language
laboratory market. Worse, Philips' Compact Cassette was eroding the
open reel market, now increasingly dominated by the Japanese.
Unlike Brenell and Ferrograph, Truvox could not modify their cast
alloy deck for the 10-1/2" professional market and, frankly, it
would be pointless making a major new investment in a new design.
Never-the-less, the Series 100 was upgraded to the new Series 200,
benefiting greatly from Thermionic Product's military contract
quality control expertise.

The
Series 200 was arguably their best ever deck (the stereo example
shown in the photo is a factory pre-production model) and was
proudly launched in February 1969 with the slogan: "This won't be
the first tape-recorder you'll own. But it could be the last"...
and sadly for Truvox, it was, for when Racal and Thermionics merged
later in 1969 to concentrate on military electronics, interest in
the Truvox audio equipment side abruptly ended and production of
all but the 200 deck came to an end in September 1970, after which
the deck was modified as the 4-speed Racal-Thermionic T3000
portable instrumentation deck (at £600 vs £125 for the
domsetic-user Truvox 200) only to be replaced in 1970 by the
incredibly versatile Store 4 (see Thermionic Products).

"A Truvox Product"

150pp, 200+ b&w illust A4 p/b (c) 2006, 2007, 2011, 4th
edition 2016

"Diligently researched; a fascinating story of human endeavour; an
interesting insight into success and disappointment." D Ezekiel,
Truvox Financial Director